This is an interview with Paul Kingsnorth, the "recovering environmentalist" and ex-Wiccan who recently converted to the Orthodox Church. Kingsnorth is British but currently lives in the Republic of Ireland. In this conversation with Freddie Sayers from UnHerd, Kingsnorth to a large extent repeats the arguments in his two Substack articles "The Vaccine Moment" (parts 1 and 2). As for UnHerd, they seem to be a libertarian or Alt Lite on-line publication.
Kingsnorth says that the "conversation" (or rather conflict) about how to fight the COVID pandemic is not really about vaccines or lockdowns, at least not any more, although it frequently still takes that form nominally. In reality, the argument has moved into more dangerous territory, and has become a confrontation about what kind of society we want to have. Free speech, human rights and democracy itself is being eroded in the name of "fighting the virus". The Western democracies are increasingly becoming more and more authoritarian ("Chinification"), the unvaccinated are scape-goated for the failure of officially mandated policies to stop the virus, and we risk getting a society split into two groups based on "vaccination status", a society in which the state through smart phones and other technological devices surveils and controls the population. The process has gone incredibly fast, and since essentially everything can be justified in the name of fighting a dangerous disease, there is no telling where it might all stop.
Kingsnorth doesn´t deny that the COVID pandemic is serious, but he nevertheless draws a line at lockdowns specifically for the unvaccinated and vaccine mandates. He believes that the repressive measures are a way for the "liberal" elites to keep control and remain in power. The liberal world order has been crashing since 2016, which for the British Kingsnorth means Brexit, but can just as easily be applied to Donald Trump´s election victory in the United States, or to the migrant crisis in continental Europe (which began in the second half of 2015). COVID-related restrictions are a way to suppress popular discontent, and perhaps to punish the common people.
Originally, the anti-COVID measures at least superficially looked like a way to bring people together across the political and "culture war" divides. However, once vaccines were introduced into the picture, this unity quickly fractured, and now the vaccines (regardless of whether you think they are efficient or not) are splitting society into competing camps again.
While Kingsnorth calls himself a "recovering" environmentalist, he seems to be a kind of "primitivist" or "Deep Green", and his opposition to vaccine mandates is rooted in a perspective deeply critical of technology, the Western idea of "progress" and official science. Even so, he has a certain point here, as well. Can science (even true science) trump politics in a democratic polity? We ask scientists how to fight a pandemic, and then shut down all political debate (including free speech on the web) once we heard the answer, as if scientists were public officials with extraordinary powers (or all-knowing in general). Note also that the answers are always strangely repressive in nature, even in nations where almost everyone is vaccinated! In reality, of course, everything should be the subject of *political* decision-making, since "science" (or rather its societal consequences) isn´t "neutral". Neither is "politics", but that´s for another time.
Kingsnorth ends on a spiritual note, pointing out that the West no longer has an overarching narrative or "story" that can unite its people. The Christian story was dispensed with long ago, and the secular myth of constant progress has crashed as well. (Curiously, Kingsnorth says "nobody" could believe it after Auschwitz - actually, pretty much everyone did until recently, indeed, many probably still do. This just shows Kingsnorth´s status as a very narrow intellectual.) Kingsnorth doesn´t say what his alternative is, but presumably he would like our civilization to turn towards Christianity for a second time.
Kingsnorth´s points in this interview are well worth pondering, even if you disagree with certain aspects of his worldview. Recommended.
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